TL Prologue

Content Warning: This work is intended for mature (NC17) audiences. If you are younger, please kindly leave this site.
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“Jae Dream, school starts in another three days, you know.”

[[Translator's Note: ดารินพรรณ (Darinporn) is nick named ดรีม (Dream). The เจ้ (Jae) is a common prefix in front of nicknames especially in Central and Northern Thailand.]]

On a day when the sun was shaded and the breeze was cool, a young man who had been pacing around in a headache-inducing manner finally decided to swiftly open the bedroom door of his beloved older sister. The voice that followed was deep and hurried, spoken all in one go as if fearing the bespectacled girl, who was diligently focused on her beloved laptop, might suddenly decide to grab whatever was in front of her and hurl it at him for disturbing her during work hours.

However, the slender figure in an old t-shirt and shorts lowered her glasses and used her large, round eyes—uncharacteristic of her Chinese-Thai appearance—to look at her only younger brother.

The slightly built young man, who was about the same height as her, stood before her with a dry smile.

“Oh? It’s starting already? I thought it was next week.”

The answer made Dear, or Nai Daranpat, so stunned he gaped. His lips, which he’d inherited plenty of from his mother, were a strikingly vivid color as he mumbled softly.

[[Translator's Note: ดรัณภัทร (Daranpat is nicknamed เดียร์ (Dear). The more official RTGS transliteration of เดียร์ is Dia. นาย (Nai) is a formal form of address for a male that can be used much like the gender neutral Khun.]]

“I knew it.”

Wap!

“Ouch! Jae, why did you kick me?”

“It’s called a ‘stomp,’ Ai Nong Rak. So what? What does you starting school have to do with me? You want me to reduce my age and go sit in class as your friend or something?” After delivering a full-force stomp to her brother’s shin, causing him to hop around clutching his leg tightly, Darinpan or Jae Dream crossed her arms abruptly and asked this as if it were none of her business, leaving her younger brother speechless, his mouth agape.

[[Translator's Note: ไอ้น้องรัก (Ai Nong Rak) is a combination of Ai an informal/familiar participle, Nong the word for a younger sibling, and Rak the word for love. In short, it means something like beloved baby brother.]]

“Hey! You say that like you’re shirking responsibility. Weren’t you the one who said you’d find me an apartment? You promised me two months ago! Ouch, damn it, I’m gonna die. School starts this Monday and I still don’t have a place to stay. Where am I supposed to find an apartment now…” The young man with the dazzlingly handsome face began to complain louder and louder. However, when he turned and met the gaze of his beautiful older sister, he could only manage a dry smile.

Slap.

“I’m not complaining at you, Jae! I’m just complaining about myself for being so damn forgetful, for not reminding you to help me find an apartment!” Seeing the glint in his sister’s eyes, like a tigress ready to pounce on her prey, the younger sibling immediately stepped forward and began gently massaging her slender shoulders.

He had to suck up to her. Otherwise, he’d definitely have to wake up at 5 AM. every day to go to school.

“Who said I forgot?”

“Hmm?” The young man made a sound in his throat, using his own large, round eyes—just as uncharacteristically big as his sister’s—to blink rapidly as if he’d heard wrong. This made Jae Dream laugh softly and raise her hand to ruffle her brother’s hair vigorously.

“Did I ever say I hadn’t found you an apartment? If I didn’t find you one, it’d be my duty to drive you to the skytrain every morning, right? No way. Too lazy…”

The listener nodded emphatically, then stopped abruptly. This was his sister’s nature. Once she weighed something and decided it would make her life more comfortable, Jae would do it.

“So…”

“So what? I’ll take you to see the apartment tomorrow. Then on Sunday, I’ll dump you off, you young engineering freshman.” As she said this, Jae Dream laughed softly in good humor, causing the listener to let out a huge sigh of relief. It seemed he had definitely survived a close call.

Skkrt

As soon as the matter was settled, the young woman swiveled her office chair back to focus on her laptop screen again. This reminded her younger brother, who took a deep breath.

If I bother her too much, will I get killed?

“Jae, Jae, don’t forget you have to go buy stuff for the room…”

“Yeah, yeah. Refrigerator, TV, microwave, water heater, bed, clothes drying rack, washing basin. I guarantee it’s all ready. I’ve prepared everything. You go make dinner. If I finish work and the food isn’t ready, your allowance is definitely getting cut.” Not content with just the threat, she also shot him a stern look, making the recipient agree immediately, not daring to poke the sleeping tiger and risk getting his throat clawed out.

It wasn’t the allowance he was afraid of. The only thing he feared was her canceling the apartment and refusing to drive him to the skytrain every morning. His life, this Dear’s life, would be over.

Thinking this, the young man stepped out of the room and began doing something the girls at his school would probably never believe… cooking, just as he had done for the many years he’d lived alone with his older sister in this big house.

***

A towering condominium stood imposingly before him. Dear stood still, tilting his head back to look up, letting the hot, pollution-laden wind of Bangkok hit his body like a cartoon character without a role, his mouth still hanging open.

Jae Dream found me a condo? I’ll bet my head. No, I’ll bet her head that Jae Dream wouldn’t be willing to spend ten thousand, or maybe several tens of thousands, a month to rent a condo for me… Or did she scam one of her friends or something?

“Hey, are you going to stand there gawking much longer? Follow me. Or I’ll just leave you here.”

“Hey! Jae, wait for me!” As his beautiful older sister was about to disappear into the building,

the young man yelled loudly, quickly scurrying after her, also looking quite confused by the attitude of the receptionist downstairs who greeted his sister like they were well acquainted.

“Jae, have you been hiding out here or something?”

“What did you say?” The question made the one who’d spoken earlier shake his head quickly, then step into the elevator with his sister.

“Nothing, Khrap… It’s just, Jae, you’re letting me stay here?”

“Mhmm. This place is just a bit away from your university. Maybe a five-minute motorbike taxi ride…”

Ding

Jae Dream said it simply, not paying any attention to the fact that her younger brother was making a face like he couldn’t believe his luck with his unbelievably kind sister. But before he could ask anything else, the elevator doors opened wide, bringing the pair to a floor with only a few rooms. It was noticeably quiet, probably because it was still very early for a weekend.

Until they both stopped in front of one door.

“Hey, Jae! Why are you pressing it like that?!” the young man exclaimed loudly when his sister raised her hand and held down the doorbell buzzer continuously, in a manner that showed absolutely no consideration for the room’s owner. The utterly rude gesture made Dear completely forget that if his sister had rented this room for him… why would she be pressing the doorbell like she was making razor clams (frustratedly)?

Knock Knock Knock

“Ouch! Okay, okay, I know! You can stop pressing it now!”

Thud

Dear froze when he heard the shouting response from behind the door. He snapped his head towards his sister, about to yell loudly in complaint.

“Hey, Jae! Who are you taking me to see? You said you were taking me to see an apartment!”

“This is your apartment. Just be quiet, it’ll be better for you.”

“Better for you, you mean! I’m not staying with anyone, hey! I want a single room…”

Gaaaaasp

While the younger sibling was complaining to his older sister about this unexpected turn of events, the thick wooden door opened wide before someone stepped out and greeted them.

“Didn’t I tell you several times, Dream, not to hold the buzzer down? I knew it was you from that alone… Oh, Dear.”

Thud

Don’t even ask how the owner of the name ‘Dear’ felt right now, when a deep, low voice—like someone who’d just woken up—came from inside the room. His fair-complexioned face slowly tilted upward, while in his heart he prayed with all his might:

No, damn it. No. It absolutely cannot be that person.

But it seemed the young man’s prayers would never be answered. He looked up and met the sharp eyes of a tall, large-built young man still dressed in dark-colored pajamas.

“P’Porsche…”

The speaker could swear the voice that escaped his lips was no different from that of someone in extreme shock. After all, the man in front of him… Nai Purin Akramethakorn… the older brother from next door whom he had secretly loved for many years.

[[Translator's Note: หูริน อัครเมธากร (Purin Akramethakorn's) nickname is พี่พอร์ช (Porsche) and some of his friends shorten it to พู (Po). P' is a contraction for Phîi. It literally means older sibling, but can be used as a polite honorific with any older person in one's own generation.]]